


Gender Roles

by Broba



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gender Issues, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-21
Updated: 2012-02-21
Packaged: 2017-10-31 13:31:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/344569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broba/pseuds/Broba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I have had to confront gender issues head on and deal with parts of my own attitudes to gender that surprised me, in the past. Several of my more intimate acquaintances have been trans, and I like to think I have a reasonably nuanced attitude to gender.</p><p>For this reason when a kinkmeme prompt came up specifically looking at gender roles, I thought I really wanted to tray and approach the subject in a way that was readable and hopefully enjoyable, but also respectful. I wrote the short introductory paragraph because it's a subject that can so easily lead to flames and trolling, so I wanted to make clear from the outset where I was coming from.</p><p>The trolls are adjusting to life on Earth, but find the concept of gender to be a surprisingly tricky one, filled with minefields.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gender Roles

_Hi gang! it's your old pal Broba here, and I have just finished up the fic you're about to read. The issues we're looking at today are ones that I know a lot of you will consider at least a little trigger-y, matters of gender and gender roles are quite often hot button topics! So I'd just like to point out that I have a complex and nuanced series of views on gender, but this piece is not intended to explore the matter fully. I do not intend for the characters to be mouthpieces for **my** views, just for views of their own._ _Please don't see this as a complex and in-depth look at gender, as there is a whole lot more to say and I'm really just brushing the surface a little.  
  
And yes, Rose is a pernickety little snit at times, and we all know it._  
  
  
  
No one had expected that the trolls would simply assimilate into Earth culture easily, that would have been unreasonable. And, to be fair, the problems that did arise were so completely outside of what anyone had imagined that there could have been no real preparation. The trolls understood the basics of human culture instinctively, as they should since the human world and everything in it had been born from the seed of their own dying universe. They knew what music was for, and why people enjoyed a quiet dinner. They could appreciate an artistic statement or watch a football game and grasp what they were seeing. All of this made it seem at first that they were compatible with the new world they found themselves in, but the problems began on the day John met Karkat for a cup of coffee at lunchtime. John was preparing for college, and Karkat was bored out of his skull, so they had agreed to meet up between classes. John had been sat at a pleasant spot in the sun, nursing a coffee and cake at a wrought iron table among the other diners. He looked up when he heard the people around begin muttering and making surprised sounds, and he nearly fell off his chair in surprise when Karkat sauntered up.  
  
"Hi Karkat! Uh, what are you wearing?"  
"What this?" Snapped Karkat abrasively, "I found it."  
"Where did you find it?"  
"What the hell does that mean? I didn't steal it from your pathetic clothing pile."  
"Oh I know you didn't take it from me," John laughed, "have you been going through Jade's things? Or Rose?"  
  
Karkat glared, he realised that he had made a gender mistake when John singled out the girls. He had indeed borrowed the headscarf from Jade, he disliked the sun, even though the Earth light didn't sear in the way that the sun of Alternia had. He had it knotted under his chin like a shawl.  
  
"You look like a Russian peasant woman Karkat!"  
"So what!" Karkat retorted angrily, "I wanted to!" He slipped on a pair of sunglasses. They were Jade's too, and now he looked remarkably like Audrey Hepburn.

  


\---

  
They all met up regularly, usually on a Friday. The trolls would all pack into a house, usually at John's or Rose's, as they were large enough and had the catering facilities. This weekend Rose had agreed to host the meet. The trolls were intensely self-contained and often needed urging to socialise when there wasn't a specific purpose or agenda in mind. They had little concept of being in each other's company for recreational reasons that didn't include some kind of violence or sexual acts. They were happy enough to communicate over messenger, but tended to get antsy in each other's company for extended periods. It had taken some time for them to come to terms with the idea that life was not a constant and vicious competition for survival and advancement over the others.  
  
The trolls lounged about in the various rooms, alone or in small groups. They naturally formed small clusters which waxed and waned as members detached and moved around. They were inherently against the idea of all gathering together in one place, that just made everyone uncomfortable. They could bear to be in the same house so long as specific territories were delineated. If two trolls were alone in a room their first instinct was to create a social hierarchy between them, and lacking any overriding social structure to fall back on these hierarchies were extensively changeable and fluid. All of this had been observed closely by Rose, who took copious notes and explained her findings to the others whenever she could make them listen. In the main lounge the wide television was showing movies all night, and John was a permanent fixture on the couch with whoever wanted to drift in and join him there. Karkat was sat next to him bolt upright and with arms folded, between them was the popcorn bowl. Not a popcorn bucket- never again.  
  
They were watching For A Few Dollars More, and John was rapt, close to tears. The final scene was playing out. Along strode Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name- although as John correctly and repeatedly pointed out he was actually referred to as Manco earlier- to interrupt the duel between Lee Van Cleef's Colonel Mortimer and Indio, played by Gian Maria Volonte. It was the most tense and emotional scene in the film, almost without any words. The Colonel and Indio had been heading for this confrontation until suddenly Indio had the upper hand, he had a gun drawn on Mortimer and was about to deal the killing strike when in came Clint, covering him with a rifle and handing Colonel Mortimer a gun. An execution became a duel, and the two men just regarded each other for long, agonising minutes. They both knew that life as it had been was now over, for both of them the choice was between putting a final end to the past and beginning a new life, or else dying at the hand of their old nemesis.  
  
John reached for a nugget of popcorn, Karkat stuffed a handful into his mouth and nearly choked, the tension was almost too much. The searing heat of the western sun, the sweat and grime, the blazing light of death filled the room. Karkat hugged himself tighter as the shot moved close to Lee Van Cleef's face as he looked up and pierced the camera lens with his famous "angel eyes" stare.  
  
"She's so fucking beautiful," whispered Karkat, keeping his voice down in hushed awe.  
"Hold on, what?" John paused the film, Lee Van Cleef's stare stilled and froze.  
"Hey! Don't stop it now! It's getting to the good bit!"  
"Did you just say 'she'?"  
Karkat winced and muttered under his breath. John wasn't having any of it.  
"Come on Karkat, he has a moustache! How can you not get this?"  
"Fuck!" Roared Karkat, "You people all look the same, you know that!"  
"But they're cowboys! Cow _boys!_ "  
"Stop right there!" Karkat surged to his feet and approached the television, indicating the frozen visage of Lee Van Cleef with a wave of his hand, "look at that! She's lost everything, her family, her life, and now she's got a chance at last to take something back for once. Look in those eyes- you can just see all the- the pain! She's not happy she found Indio, she's terrified that the only thing holding her together all this time is coming to an end!"  
"Jesus, Karkat,"  
"I'm not done! Females are the ones with the complex inner emotions and shit, you told me so! You said that the boys are the ones who just get mad and do stuff and girls are the ones who think about it."  
"Well, yeah, I mean that's all true," John had said it, and he stood by it.  
"So there is a girl who has spent this whole time doing nothing but hurting and thinking about it, I thought that's why she was so quiet and still all the time."  
"Stop calling Lee Van Cleef a 'she' please!"  
"Whatever!"  
"Look, it's simple, this is a cowboy movie, right?"  
"Yes yes I get that."  
"And you know what a cowboy is right?"  
"Of course. Cowboys ride on hoofbeasts and settle things with fighting and not talking, and when they do talk they let their fists do the talking, except when they are shooting things because their guns also do the talking."  
"Uh, well yeah I suppose that's pretty much what I said but you're missing the point."  
"No _you're_ missing the point! That's the most emotional and complex performance in the whole film, and now you're saying _that's_ a boy?"  
"Yeah he is. They all are."  
"What, even Clint?"  
" _Especially_ Clint!"  
"Even when they were acting all bitchy earlier about who is the most cool? The coy looks, the strutting and showing off?"  
"That wasn't being bitchy! They were having a manly showdown! It was _gritty!_ "  
"Huh."  
"Karkat, have you been seeing this as some kind of girly drama?"  
"Frankly I thought it was the most erotic kismessitude flick I've seen since we got here, I thought you were trying to, you know,"  
"Trying to what?"  
"Uh, get me in the mood."  
"Karkat!"

  


\---

  
Rose was having an exasperating evening of her own in the kitchen, where she was scrubbing clean the remains of Dave's Special Texan Sticky As Hell Irony Wings. The sauce was the work of genius but it was merry hell to get off the flatware, and she couldn't bear to leave plates sitting there, the dishwasher was not up to the job of Dave's sauce so she had rolled up her sleeves and got to work. Behind her, Nepeta was laying on the kitchen table on her back, she had a can of beer balanced perfectly on her chest between her shallow breasts effortlessly.  
  
"Ro-o-o-ose," she said, in her 'I-have-a-question' voice.  
"Nepeta?"  
"How come Dave doesn't do the washing? He's the one who made the stuff messy."  
"Because Dave is a filthy boy who doesn't appreciate the finer things."  
"But Dave is awesome!"  
"He might well be awesome and probably all sorts of other adjectives as well, but I don't trust him with the cleaning." She sighed and put a plate to one side, satisfied at last.  
"Why not?"  
Rose just grunted, putting some elbow into a particularly truculent stain, "because your average boy will run enough water over a plate to get rid of the crumbs and call it fine to eat from again."  
"Sounds like a good idea."  
"Nepeta!"  
She stuck her tongue out at the back of Rose's head and took a swig of her beer, "well it does."  
"Boys might seem to have all the fun, but they all need to grow up sometime."  
  
Nepeta finished her beer with a burp and sat up, swinging her legs to hang over the edge and looked at Rose curiously. The division of genders had been explained to her along with all the other trolls, but it obviously bothered her.  
  
"Ro-o-o-ose,"  
"Yes, Nepeta," said Rose with a hint of exasperation. She put down the washing for the time being and turned.  
"How come boys need to grow up and girls don't?"  
"Well they both do, but girls tend to do it sooner and without having to be dragged kicking and screaming every inch of the way."  
"Well I think everyone should just do what they like."  
"Now you sound like a tomboy,"  
"Oooh, and what's that? Can I be one? I like the sound of it!"  
"Ah, wait a moment, I'm confusing things," Rose took a breath and tried to sound more professional, "you understand there are males and females, yes?"  
"Mhmm!"  
"And there are differences between them, biological differences?"  
"Mm, yes, boys have-"  
"Never you mind what boys have. But there are also social and psychological differences too."  
"Like, needing to grow up some time?"  
"Yes, something like that. Psychologists used to believe that gender was entirely determined by biology, but the current thinking is more along the lines that gender is constructed out of both biological drives and social conditioning."  
Nepeta looked at her blankly and meowed.  
"That just means, gender comes from what all the people around you think as well as what you're born with, you see?"  
"I think so, but," Nepeta pondered this deeply for a moment, "if part of it is your body, and part of it is what other people around you think, when do you get to choose for yourself?"  
"Um, well, I'm afraid you don't really. That's just how humans are."  
"But that's stupid! What if I don't agree with what people are telling me?"  
"That is where people come into psychological difficulties and should seek the advice of a professional," Rose nodded sagely, feeling that she was on firmer ground here.  
"Well I don't think it means you have a difficulty just because you don't agree with what people say," Nepeta glared accusingly as she thought of something, "I remember once you said that you should always have self respect and not let other people tell you what to do!"  
"Well, yes in general terms I did say that yes."  
"So which is it then?"  
"It's-" she sighed, "well it's very complicated."  
"Not for me!" Nepeta beamed and hopped off the table to fetch another beer, "I'm going to be a boy!"  
Rose groaned, "Where's Equius? I kind of feel like you ought to be talking to him about this stuff as well, he's the nearest you have to a father figure."  
"Oh, I think he went upstairs again."  
Rose groaned louder. _She_ had done it again. "Mom!"

  


\---

  
Mom Lalonde loved when the trolls came over, she enjoyed having guests in her home and she especially liked to see Rose socialising. As a personal bonus, she got to steal Equius and have him lift heavy things for her. While she watched.  
  
Equius was currently moving a laden wardrobe across the room, very carefully. His arms bunched and corded with muscle as he eased it into the air and shifted the thing inches to the right. Mom sat on the edge of the bed and sipped at her Martini sour. Equius was always impeccably polite and almost eager to help with anything she needed. In truth she was running out of furniture to rearrange, she resolved to buy a new bedroom suite at the next opportunity. Perhaps something that needed to be put together by hand. By his hands- they were so big.  
  
"Equius dear, you are an absolute darling you know."  
"Thankyou, Mrs Lalonde, that is very kind."  
"Though you needn't call me Mrs Lalonde, it makes me sound positively ancient."  
"What would you prefer me to call you by?" Equius straightened up and mopped at his brow genteelly with a hand towel he always carried.  
"Just call me ma'am, it is a human custom."  
"As you say, ma'am." Equius nodded gravely, carefully memorising the term and inadvertently sending a wild shiver down Mrs Lalonde's back.  
"You know one of these days I'm going to have to just... oh, snatch you up and lock you away in the cellar," said Mrs Lalonde, only half joking, "it does a girl good to have a real man around the house."  
"I'm not a human though ma'am," said Equius cautiously, catching something he found a little alarming in her tone.  
"Well you're man enough for me at any rate," she chuckled and knocked back the last of her drink.  
  
Equius approached thoughtfully and sat down on the bed, eliciting a groan from the timbers, and took off his shades briefly to mop his brow more thoroughly.  
  
"Is anything on your mind Equius? You're even more taciturn then usual and that's really saying something."  
"I'm curious ma'am, what does it mean that I am a real man as you put it before."  
"Well I mean to say, that you are manly."  
"Man-like, yes?"  
"You poor dears really don't know what we mean when we say things like that, do you?"  
"Not really. Not in the sense that you mean, I think."  
"Is it bothering you?"  
Equius thought about it, frowning. Mrs Lalonde noticed a single spiderweb crack appear and spread in the glass of his shades. "Yes, it bothers me that when Nepeta has questions I cannot answer, and it bothers me when people say things and I do not know if they are complementing or not."  
"I suppose these things seem simple to us humans because we just grow up knowing them, but to someone who doesn't have that upbringing it can be like trying to read a book in a foreign language."  
"With no pictures."  
  
She laughed, but he just sat there grimly. She patted him on the back and good Lord, he was like rock. She thought about it, taking the opportunity to rub his back, he didn't resist her.  
  
"Well Equius, it's like this. Every human has a male side and a female side, inside them. And as we grow up, usually one side turns out to be stronger then the other. We have maleness and femaleness on the outside of our bodies too, and usually the inside and outside match up reasonably well."  
"That seems unnecessarily complicated."  
"It would be, except that opposites tend to attract. Female reaches out to male and," she patted his hand meaningfully, "vice versa."  
Equius frowned, chewing it over, "what happens when a male is more a female on the inside, or, uh, vice versa?"  
"Oh it happens, quite often. Sometimes all a man wants to do is relax in a big fluffy blanket with some chocolates, and sometimes a girl has to roll her sleeves up and knock some sense into the world."  
"Sometimes?"  
"Well, it's up to you really. People feel more comfortable being one thing or another, and usually they change their minds quite often because people are just contrary like that."  
"Doesn't that make things confusing?"  
"Of course, people are confused a lot of the time. That's just the way people are."  
"So is that what you mean when you call me a manly man? Manly on the inside and the outside?"  
"I suppose you could put it that way yes, dear."  
Equius grinned and puffed up a little, "double manly. Strong!"  
"Oh pish, don't be too proud. You can have too much of a good thing, and people forget to listen to both sides of themselves too often, which always means trouble."  
"I shall remember, ma'am. How will I know the difference, though?"  
  
Mrs Lalonde stood up and went to her dresser, extracting a men's tie that had belonged to the previous Mr Lalonde. She expertly tied it around her neck, snug under the collar of her blouse and pulled it up tight, before folding her arms and nodding at him.  
  
"Manly, ma'am?"  
"That's right. And now-" she loosened the tie a little, letting the knot rest in her cleavage. She shifted her weight slightly, effortlessly curving a hip out to lean a hand on and raised an eyebrow at him. "-Womanly."  
"I see," he was sweating again, "which is stronger?"  
"Strong in different ways, dear Equius, and that's another thing not to forget. Both strong, in different ways."  
He stood up and coughed, "I think perhaps I am not yet ready to assume one of your human genders, I must give this some thought."  
"You know dear, I think that's very wise. All that really matters is that you figure something out that you're happy with, and to hell with what anyone else thinks about it."  
"Thank you ma'am, you have been very educational." He made to leave, and she patted him on the behind.  
"One last thing, Equius dear,"  
"Uhm, yes, ma'am?"  
"Gender is like the music of the Beatles. You might never have heard an album in your life, but the influence is still all around you. That doesn't mean you have to listen, though."  
Equius looked at her steadily, mulling it over. He had a sense that this was a very meaningful thing that required additional thought. "I will remember."  
"That's good. Now run along darling, I know you're just desperate to talk to your friends. Oh! And would you do me one little favour?"  
"What is that, ma'am?"  
"If Rose asks you what we were up to all this time, just tell her I was teaching you about sexuality." She maintained a perfectly straight face, "I wouldn't want her to worry."  
"Sexuality, yes. I will tell her that I have learned much."  
"There's a dear."


End file.
